Building Does Not a Home Make
by old school rocker
Summary: An unknown visitor shows up at the Curtis household one day. Little does everyone realize she will be the one to change Darry's life. Darry OC Rating for later chapters.
1. Unexpected

Disclaimer: I own the character Edie and the plot. Everything else is the wonderful creation of S.E. Hinton.

A/N: Okay, well I know that I haven't yet finished my other story for those of you that are reading it, but I got struck with another idea so here it goes. Once again, as in my other fic, Dallas and Johnny aren't dead. I love their characters and think they add a lot to any story so for my purposes in writing this they are both alive. This is Darry/OC. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Unexpected

It was 6:30 on a Friday night and the gang was scattered throughout the Curtis household. As usual, they were congregating there to maybe grab a bite to eat and decide their plans for the evening. The evening, however, for one Daryl Curtis, would be quite different from the one he was currently expecting. It all started with a knock at the door. This struck everyone as unusual because one, they were all at the house already and two, no one ever knocked. Sodapop rose, curious, from the couch and went to the door. Standing on the front porch, looking rather nervous was a girl. She looked to be around Soda's age, maybe a little older, and she seemed slightly uncomfortable. She shifted from one foot to the other and Soda looked past her to the street where her car (so he assumed anyways) was parked. It wasn't an expensive car and she definitely didn't look like a soc, but she also didn't look like a greaser. After this examination of the unexpected guest, Soda finally strode into view and pulled open the screen door.

"Hello," he said, leaning against the frame, eyeing her.

"Hi." she fidgeted slightly with her hands. "Does Daryl Curtis live here?"

"He sure does." Soda stuck out his hand. "Sodapop Curtis, brother to one Daryl Curtis." The girl shyly gripped Soda's hand and shook it firmly, clearly trying not to let her nervousness get the best of her.

"Nice to meet you Sodapop." She didn't laugh or question him as to if that was actually his name. "My name is Edie," she offered.

"Edie…" Soda paused. "That's a strange name." She raised her eyebrows as if to say _you're one to talk_.

"Is Daryl home?" she asked, not quite sure where her conversation with Soda was going.

"Yup."

"May… May I speak to him?" She wondered why Sodapop was being so difficult. She didn't even know him!

"I don't see why not." And with that he turned around and disappeared into the house. He hadn't meant to make the newcomer uncomfortable, but it was uncommon for someone to come looking for Darry. He didn't really have any friends outside of the gang. It was even more uncommon for a girl to be looking for him, especially one this beautiful.

Edie waited patiently on the front porch. She didn't mind not being invited inside. She was nervous and by the sounds of it there were quite a few people inside the old rundown house and she wasn't in any hurry to meet them. Especially since Darry wasn't even expecting her.

All of a sudden a hulking, muscular frame appeared in the doorway, a change from the lithe body of Sodapop. The screen door was pushed open and all of a sudden Edie was face to face with the man she had come to see, no longer remembering any of the things she had come to say.

"Hi…" he said slowly. He seemed to recognize her, which was good, but he didn't recall her name.

"Hi Daryl, my name is Edie. I don't know if you remember me but we met earlier-" she was cut off by him.

"I remember." He said bluntly, but not in a harsh way. "Edie Peterson."

"Right…" She was now at a complete loss for words.

"What brings you by here?"

He was very curious himself. He had met her earlier that day on a roofing job. He and his partner for the day had been working on the roof of her house. It had been a particularly hot day and sometime in the early afternoon when the sun had become unbearably hot she had come outside with a tray of lemonade and asked them if they had time for a break. His partner, who was quite the ladies man and always on the prowl, climbing down the scaffolding eagerly

"For a pretty girl like you?" he had said slickly. "We always have time." Darry had followed behind him slowly down the scaffolding to join in for a cup of lemonade. Although it was his partner that had been eyeing the girl, it was with Darry whom she seemed to be interested in, and they had kind of hit it off.

This was an unusual experience for Darry. He hadn't dated since before his parent's death, partly because he no longer had the time, and partly because girls no longer took interest in him. In high school Darry had been popular. He was on the football team and had lots of friends. No one had though of him as a greaser. After the death of his parents Darry had become hard. He seemed much too tired and old for someone his age. He had been forced to grow up too quickly and as a consequence had not had a real relationship with anyone for years. Seeing Edie on the porch made a funny feeling prickle in his stomach. Something he had not felt for a long time.

Edie paused for a moment, trying to find the right words.

"Well… I really enjoyed meeting you today," she started. "And I didn't get another chance to talk to you before you left so I called up the roofing company and asked for your address but they wouldn't give it to me at first, so I told them that you had left something behind and I wanted to return it to you. I don't think they believed that but they gave me your address anyways so I came over here and…" Once she started she couldn't seem to stop and the words came pouring out rapidly, tumbling over one another. Finally she stopped and paused, pulling herself together.

"I was wondering," she started again. "I was wondering if you'd like to go see a movie or go for a shake or something." She stopped and looked at her feet, almost recoiling, as though expecting to be laughed at or something. She was younger than Darry, buy at least a couple of years, and clearly out of her element. Darry thought about it for a moment before answering. Edie was a very beautiful girl, and Darry hadn't been on a date for years. He decided he could not pass this opportunity up.

"A shake sounds like fun," came Darry's gruff voice. Edie looked up from her feet and gave him a shy smile.

"Okay… Uh, do you want to go now?"

Darry couldn't help but laugh, she seemed almost scarred of him, completely different from earlier that day. _Earlier in the day she didn't come all the way to your house to ask you out either,_ a small voice inside his head reminded him.

"Sure, if that's okay with you."

She smiled at him again, this time a little more confidently.

"Now is perfect."

"Okay, one second, let me grab my jacket." Darry ducked briefly back into the house and reappeared with a brown jacket. "Ready?" he asked.

"Let's go," Edie replied with a smile, leading him to her car.

Okay. There was the first chapter. Let me know what you think! R/R if you want more.


	2. Curiosity

A/N: Well I've decided to write a second chapter, whether anyone wants it or not. So there. Anyways, on with the story!

Chapter 2 – Curiosity

Sodapop walked into the living room looking slightly dazed. Darry entered from the kitchen drying his hands on a towel.

"Who was it?" he asked. Soda, unable to form words, motioned for Darry to go to the door. Darry strode past him, dropping the towel on Steve's head as he went by. The gang heard the screen door open and then slam shut again as Darry went out onto the porch.

"Well?" Two-bit pushed. "Who was it?"

Soda plopped onto the couch, still in a daze.

"There was a beautiful girl at the door…"

"And?" questioned Steve.

"It was for Darry…" The whole room was silent for a moment.

"For Darry? Are you sure she wasn't just looking for me?" Two-bit joked.

"Nope, she seemed quite insistent on seeing Darry…" Soda paused, sucking in a breath. "The universe has been flipped upside down."

"Oh come on guys," came Ponyboy's voice. "Leave Darry alone."

"Yeah," added Dally, and everyone turned to look at him. "Maybe if he gets laid he'll stop being such a hard-ass." This received a laugh from everyone, mainly because they all believed it was true.

Meanwhile

Darry's POV

I sat across the table from Edie at the local Soda Shop in quite wonder of what I'd done to deserve this. 'Absolutely nothing' came the answer from the back of my mind. Edie was beautiful. I had noticed her right away when she had come outside carrying the fateful tray of lemonade. There wasn't anything particularly astonishing or different about her, but she was beautiful.

Her straw blonde hair was poker-straight and fell past her shoulders to mid-way down her back. She was fairly tall, maybe 5'8 or so with a slender frame. Not skinny but just right. Her face was soft and seemed to have a permanent look of amusement on it. Her eyes were startlingly bright green and seemed to exude confidence and happiness at the same time, although the confidence had not been evident when she had shown up at the house. I think her eye were what made her so beautiful. They were deep and soulful but piercing at the same time. I met her gaze and felt like I could get lost in those shining green pools forever, and most definitely not mind.

"I suppose it was kind of out of the blue for me to show up at your house like that," she stated, interrupting his internal monologue of her beauty. "I don't normally do things like that but…" she paused. "There was something about you… It was intriguing. I just felt that I couldn't let you disappear," she stopped again. "I wanted to get to know you."

"Wanted?" I asked.

"Want." She stated firmly. "Now that I've found you anyways."

There was something curious about her. Darry felt comfortable with her immediately. Her presence was relaxing. And she made him laugh. Really laugh. Something he hadn't done in a long, long time.

Later

Not wanting to miss a single detail of what had happened with the mystery girl, the gang stayed in the Curtis house that night. Waiting for Darry to come home. Around quarter after nine they heard a car pull up in front of the house. It was silent for a few minutes, nothing but the sound of the car engine running, and then… the slam of a car door. The car drove off and the gang heard heavy feet climb the steps to the run down house.

Darry walked in, hung up his coat, and then turned to face the living room, where he was greeted with the expectant faces of his brothers and friends.

"Good Lord," Darry muttered under his breath. "Don't tell me you guys waited here all night just for me."

"Course not," scoffed Two-bit. "Vain, party of one."

"U-huh," breathed Darry, clearly not convince. "Honestly. You guys are as bad as a bunch of old ladies." He sighed. "All right. What do you want to know?"

Everyone laughed. Stone cold Daryl, as it would appear, was in love.

Please R/R if you want it to keep going!


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